Huw Irranca-Davies

Huw Irranca-Davies MP
Shadow Minister for Food and Farming
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 October 2010
Leader	Ed Miliband
Member of Parliament for Ogmore
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 February 2002
Preceded by	Ray Powell
Majority	13,246 (38.2%)
Personal details
Born	(1963-01-22) 22 January 1963 Gowerton, Swansea, Wales
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Joanna Irranca-Davies

Ifor Huw Irranca-Davies^[1] (born 22 January 1963), born Ifor Huw Davies, is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ogmore since 2002. (He adopted his wife's maiden name as part of his own surname when they married.)

Having served as Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Northern Ireland Office, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, he became an Assistant Whip in May 2006. On 29 June 2007, he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales, before being promoted to the role of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Early days

Davies was born in 1963, the son of Teresa Davies and Gethin Davies. Some of his earliest memories are of campaigning in General Elections for his uncle, Ifor Davies, MP for Gower and deputy to Cledwyn Hughes at the Welsh Office in Harold Wilson's Government. Davies went to Gowerton Comprehensive School (where his mother was a secretary), and later achieved a BA (Hons) at Crewe and Alsager College, and an MSc from Swansea Metropolitan University.

After leaving higher education he worked for local authorities in leisure management; and it was while he was working in a sports centre and she was doing aerobics that he met his wife, Joanna Irranca, a member of an Italian family who had come to work in south Wales in the 1950s. On marriage the couple both changed their surnames to Irranca-Davies. Later, Irranca-Davies worked in private sector management, and also spent enjoyable years as a lecturer at Swansea Metropolitan University.

Member of Parliament

In 2001 he was Labour candidate for the Brecon & Radnor constituency in 2001, but finished third, behind the Liberal Democrat and Conservative candidates.

In the by-election of 14 February 2002 he was elected to the parliamentary seat of Ogmore in the South Wales Valleys (a Labour seat since 1918), after the death of MP and Government Whip Sir Ray Powell. (Irranca-Davies was himself appointed Government Whip for Wales in May 2006 after spells as a Parliamentary Aide in several government departments.) He was re-elected to serve Ogmore in the general elections of May 2005 and May 2010. For the first time in 2010, Ogmore became the largest parliamentary majority of any party and constituency in Wales.

Since his election in 2002 Irranca-Davies has worked on a range of local and national issues, including sitting on the Procedures Select Committee to discuss ways of modernising the work of Parliament and has also sat on Standing Committees for the Police Reform Bill, Fireworks Bill and Communications Bill, amongst others.

He has also held positions on the Welsh Grand Committee and the Northern Ireland Grand Committee. Huw has worked on Parliamentary Labour Party ('PLP') Committees on Welsh Affairs, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Home Affairs and International Development. He was also the backbench MP representative on the board of the Coal Health Claims Monitoring Subgroup for Wales. He has campaigned on many issues including the modernisation of rail lines in Wales, flood protection, and access to the countryside and coast. Irranca-Davies has spoken in the House of Commons on topics as varied as international trade union rights, compulsory voting, anti-social behaviour, renewable energy and climate change, fair trade, social justice and poverty and inequality.

In June 2005 he became Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Tessa Jowell, having previously served as PPS to Jane Kennedy at the Northern Ireland Office. Irranca-Davies has served as PPS to Ministers of the Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Culture, Media and Sport. He has also worked as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State of Wales, and as an Environment Minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

Between October 2010 and October 2011, Irranca-Davies served as the Shadow Energy Minister where he led the Labour campaign on the protection of the Feed-In Tariff for solar power. In October 2011, he was appointed as the Shadow Minister on Food and Farming, where he currently works on issues regarding food policy, farming and rural affairs (including extending the availability of broadband).

Irranca-Davies is a Member of many additional diverse All Party Groups. These include the All Party Groups for British Council (Vice-Chair), China Group, Citizens Advice, Clean Coal, Coalfield Communities, Energy Intensive Industries (Vice-Chair), Manufacturing, Maritime and Ports, Steel and Metal Related Industry, Children in Wales, Patient and Public Involvement in Health and Social Care (Co-Chair), University Group (Vice-Chair), and Waterways (Co-Chair).

Irranca-Davies serves as Chair of the All Party Group for the Recognition of Munitions Workers. During World War II, many ‘munitioneers’ settled in Ogmore and across South Wales to work at the Welsh Arsenal in Bridgend. There, they worked to supply troops with weaponry and ammunition. However, their efforts along with those working in Royal Ordnance Factories across the UK, have yet to be officially recognised. The All Party Group has been working towards this recognition.

While Huw spends most of his week at work in Parliament, he returns to his constituency in Ogmore on the weekends to carry out advice clinics, meet with constituents and attend events. He divides his time between his constituents, his wife and his three sons. Huw is a fan of many sports, especially rugby, and enjoys attending his son’s rugby matches in his free time at home.

Offices held

Huw Irranca-Davies has held the following positions:

• May 2005 – May 2006: Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport
• May 2006 – June 2007: Assistant Government Whip
• June 2007 – October 2008: Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales
• October 2008 – May 2010: Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
• October 2008 – June 2009: Natural Environment and Rural Affairs
• June 2009 – May 2010: Marine and Natural Environment
• May 2010 – October 2010: Shadow Minister for Marine and Natural Environment (Shadow Defra Minister)
• October 2010 – October 2011: Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change
• October 2011 – present: Shadow Minister for Food and Farming

In the May 2006 Government reshuffle he was promoted to serve as an Assistant Government Whip until Gordon Brown became Prime Minister.

On 29 June 2007 he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales^[2] as part of the reshuffle of the incoming new prime minister, Gordon Brown.

Trivia

In 2005 he was voted the sexiest man in Wales by the Western Mail.^[3]

In 2011, Huw was shortlisted for the first Sports Parliamentarian of the Year award, an initiative introduced by the Sport and Recreation Alliance for the work he has done to promote Archery. He was nominated by the Archery GB after he hosted the first sporting event to ever take place in Parliament in September 2011.^[4] The event brought MPs and peers together as well as gold medallists such as Nicky Hunt (archer) on Speakers’ Green for a day devoted to the sport.^[5]

References

External links

• Huw Irranca-Davies MP official constituency website
• Huw Irranca-Davies MP Welsh Labour Party profile
• Huw's Views Channel on YouTube
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Articles authored at Journalisted